Camp

The NFL tweaked some of its rules Tuesday, making thigh and knee pads mandatory equipment for players (starting in 2013) and pushing forward a pair of other changes involving the trade deadline and injured reserve. The rule involving thigh and knee padding for players is already being met with criticism by some players who argue that the bulky, additional padding slows them down without adding much protection . Vanity might also be a factor here for some opponents of the rule change, specifically those flashy wide receivers and defensive backs.

In a standoff that might require delicate diplomacy to resolve, officials in Western Maryland are pressing the federal government to reconsider its refusal to help pay for local security costs for this week's G-8 summit at Camp David. Local police say they are ready for expected protests of the Group of Eight industrialized nations gathering that begins Friday and ends Saturday night — the highest-profile event held at the presidential retreat in years — but they are not eager to pick up the tab. They say overtime and equipment could cost tens of thousands of dollars — a big hit to small-town budgets.

Former Orioles outfielder Al Bumbry , the 1973 American League Rookie of the Year, will headline the annual Ripken Academy Spring Break Camp as an instructor. The camp will take place April 1-3 at the Ripken youth baseball academy in Aberdeen. For information, call 866-RIP-KEN1 or go to ripkencamps.com.

Gilman's Shane Cockerille wasn't the most touted quarterback heading into the Nike Football Training Camp at McDaniel College, but the future Terp finished Sunday as the event's most impressive signal-caller. Cockerille, who committed to Maryland before the Red-White Spring Game at Byrd Stadium last month, earned QB MVP honors over Eastern Christian's David Sills , who committed to USC as a seventh-grader. Cockerille told ESPN.com that he " had a mindset to be the best . " Many schools had recruited Cockerille as a safety, not a quarterback.

Honey Loring is a self-proclaimed dog nut."Certifiable," she declared a while back before the cameras of CBS-TV's "Sunday Morning."Partial proof of her condition can be seen in the fenced front yard of her frame home on the edge of the tiny southeastern Vermont village of Putney: two white female standard poodles, Athena and Olympia, and Joy, a female greyhound rescued from a nearby racetrack after she was retired.Then there are the license plates. The plates on her Honda Civic read "POODLE"; on her Toyota pickup they say "TAILS UP" ("Because when your dog is happy, its tail is up," she explains)

As Mitch Whiteley drove a van full of middle school students into St. Paul's School for their first day of lacrosse camp Monday morning, he got a gentle reminder that this week's camp is different from most."

Every summer for three years now, Natasha Scott, 11, has participated in the Actors' Institute at Howard Community College. "It's the best camp ever," she said while sitting in the college's Smith Theatre on Thursday, waiting to begin dress rehearsals. This year, the pupil at Martin Luther King Middle School in Beltsville will share the role of the Cheshire Cat with fellow camper Betsy Burnett in a production of Alice in Wonderland. She likes the acting camp because she learns so much about being on stage, she said.

A perfect shiny summer day and a crowd of jittery children in clusters on the corner, about to board a yellow bus, their backpacks in a pile, their mothers giving urgent last-minute reassurances, and I stop and stare at this Large Life Event. Kids from nice homes being abandoned by their mothers in broad daylight and sent off to summer camp and God Knows What. The sweet fragility of the kids, especially the gawky boy with glasses. And the elaborate cool of the college kids in charge.

OUT OF THE CORNER OF MY EYE, I saw her last week: A laughing girl, about 10 years old, walking in a circle of friends toward the neighborhood schoolhouse. She was half-skipping with excitement and carried in her hands, instead of books, a bouquet of garden flowers.Small details, perhaps, but to me they conveyed a big message: School was about to shut down for the summer.The last day of school! When you're 10 years old, are there five sweeter words in the English language?Remember how the air suddenly seemed lighter on the day that school stopped?

A 9-year-old boy seriously injured when a tree fell on him this week at Hashawha Environmental Center in Westminster died Thursday morning at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, a Carroll County spokeswoman said. Vivian Laxton identified the boy as Noah Asid, one of two children injured when a 60-foot hickory tree fell as youngsters and counselors were preparing for a hike as part of the holiday-week nature camp. A 10-year-old girl was treated at Carroll Hospital Center and released.

For eight years, Renee Gordon's son, Alex, has been attending Camp Greentop, a summer getaway in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains for people with disabilities. Now Gordon is now spearheading a campaign with Michael Hettleman to raise $1 million for the Baltimore-based League for People with Disabilities, which runs the camp. The money will be used to help families pay for the programs, which cost about $260 a day, and to provide training for counselors. "The camp provides the most incredible experience," Gordon said.

Here is a question that the Ravens will have to answer in the coming weeks: Will they be comfortable going into the season without an experienced backup behind Ray Rice? Currently, the three top guys behind Rice on the running back depth chart - second-year players Anthony Allen and Damien Berry and rookie third-round pick Bernard Pierce - will enter training camp with three combined NFL carries. All of those belong to Allen, who carried the ball three times for eight yards in the Ravens' blowout victory over theSt.

The Ravens announced today that they have signed long snapper Patrick Scales who was with the team last summer. Scales, who went to Utah State, was brought into training camp last season to provide some competition for Morgan Cox. However, Cox won the job and Scales was released as part of the Ravens' roster cut down to 53 players. Cox had a solid 2011 season and certainly did nothing to lose his job, but Ravens coach John Harbaugh has said on several occasions that everybody will have competition in training camp.

Lose The Training Wheels, a program that teaches individuals ages 8 and older with disabilities to ride a conventional two-wheel bicycle, is accepting applications for its second annual summer camp held at and sponsored by Mountain Christian Church in Joppa July 30 to Aug. 3. "Last year's campers were amazing," volunteer camp director and Harford County resident Lori Ginley said in a press release announcing the camps. "To see the determination and sense of accomplishment in their eyes as they progressed each day until they became independent two-wheel bicycle riders was truly inspirational.

  With thanks to the Baltimore Humane Society .

We bet you won't be able to tear your eyes away from this live camera feed. The Baltimore Humane Society's Phat Cat Fitness Camp provides constant entertainment of fat cats attempting to exercise (or mostly sleeping). Keep in mind, all of these adorable fat cats are available for adoption from the Baltimore Humane Society. Get more information on the Humane Society's website.  

The Ravens today released their practice schedule for training camp in Westminster, which opens Monday. July 26 : 8:45 a.m. practice. Rookies, quarterbacks and selected veterans report to camp. July 27 : 8:45 a.m. practice; 3:30 p.m. practice July 28 : 8:45 a.m. practice; 3:30 p.m. practice. All veterans report to camp. July 29 : 8:45 a.m. practice. Team administrative day. No availability for media or general public. July 30 : 8:45 a.m. practice; 2:45 p.m. practice July 31 : 8:45 a.m. practice; 2:45 p.m. practice August 1 : 8:45 a.m. practice; 2:45 p.m. practice August 2 : 8:45 a.m. practice; 2 p.m. special teams practice August 3 : 8:45 a.m. practice; 2:45 p.m. practice August 4 : 8:45 a.m. practice; 2 p.m. special teams practice

Fabian Washington expects to be ready for the start of training camp, the Ravens reported. Washington, a starting cornerback for the Ravens the past two seasons, is coming off a season-ending knee injury. He was lifting weights this week when the team began its voluntary offseason conditioning program. "The schedule is for me to be ready for training camp and we're definitely on schedule for that," Washington told the Ravens. "Right now, I'm not close. But I think by training camp, I'll be ready to rock and roll."

A dry-goods warehouse in Jessup that supplies Giant Food grocery stores and employs about 250 people will close in June, the operator, Jessup Logistics LLC, said Wednesday. The subsidiary of New Hampshire-based C&S Wholesale Grocers said it will save about $13.5 million a year by shifting the distribution work from the traditional warehouse in Jessup to a more technologically advanced facility elsewhere. The company did not say where. "We've undertaken an extensive top-to-bottom evaluation of the operations to determine what solutions are available to provide the best value for our customer and the consumers who ultimately benefit from available savings," said Rick Stacy, a regional vice president who heads the operations, in a statement late Wednesday.

Et cetera Randallstown alum Womack is Houston-bound Former Randallstown basketball guard Tione Womack has signed with Houston. The former first-team All-Metro player, who led the Rams to two state titles, has spent the past two years at Hagerstown Community College. Womack averaged 10 points, 7.6 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 2.9steals as a sophomore. "Tione has a pass-first mentality that creates easy scoring opportunities for his teammates and is a quick, solid on-ball defender," Cougars coach James Dickey said in a news release.